New Beatles book expected very soon!
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shamustwin
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- Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2003 5:00 am
Just got mine today. First of all, when you carry it in from your mailbox make sure you have two men and a small boy to help you carry it!
I've just spent the last two hours poring over it, just looking through the sections. Very comprehensive beginning section on the history of EMI and Abbey Road, then an EXTREMELY thorough and detailed and large section on equipment -- and I mean everything! Tape machines, mics, effects processors -- there are even diagrams on the way the plugs worked and were built. To see some of this equipment up close makes you shake your head and wonder how they got the sounds they did. It looks like equipment from the set of a bad 50s horror movie -- I visualize Victor Spinetti in "Help" cursing over "these miserable English plugs!"
I wonder if, in 50 years, they'll say the same about our Pro-Tools equipped, 128-channel Mackie DAWs with multi-effects input/outputs, glowing lights and a built-in frost-free refrigerator?
Then it gets into the years of production, 1962-1969 (and a little bit of 70).
They do state early on, as they begin to describe their recording sessions, that they would not be making any attempt at identifying who played what instrument. I remember seeing a post to that effect before, but it was a little disappointing to see it in print. They don't ignore the topic -- there is just no attempt to say, "It was John on his 325-12 rather than George on his 360-12 on the left channel of blah-blah-blah."
There are lots of new studio pics,almost all in b&w. At least they were new to me. It's not pictures-of-the-Beatles heavy; in this respect it's much like "Beatles Gear", so those expecting one long photo album may be disappointed.
But there are many fascinating details of how things were actually recorded. Mark Lewison's book is mentioned often, and there are liberal quotes from all the usual suspects -- Ken Townsend, Emerick, Norman Smith.
Whew. All that from just skimming through it in 2 hours. It's 530+ pages, and these guys definitely did their homework. I was struck by one passage while they talk about the recording of "A Day In The Life", how they (the authors) were allowed (while at Abbey Road) to recreate the crashing finale Emaj chords on the very same pianos used on the song, and they were awed at how much it sounded like the real thing! Well, I guess it WAS the real thing...
Anyway, that's my "Critic's Corner" 30-cent report. I ordered early, so mine was #172 (if only I'd been so quick with my 360/12C63 order, but I'll save that whine for another post). If you are interested in the details and techniques of Abbey Road, you should pull the trigger and grab one. (I don't know the authors, this is an unsolicited endorsement.)
I've just spent the last two hours poring over it, just looking through the sections. Very comprehensive beginning section on the history of EMI and Abbey Road, then an EXTREMELY thorough and detailed and large section on equipment -- and I mean everything! Tape machines, mics, effects processors -- there are even diagrams on the way the plugs worked and were built. To see some of this equipment up close makes you shake your head and wonder how they got the sounds they did. It looks like equipment from the set of a bad 50s horror movie -- I visualize Victor Spinetti in "Help" cursing over "these miserable English plugs!"
I wonder if, in 50 years, they'll say the same about our Pro-Tools equipped, 128-channel Mackie DAWs with multi-effects input/outputs, glowing lights and a built-in frost-free refrigerator?
Then it gets into the years of production, 1962-1969 (and a little bit of 70).
They do state early on, as they begin to describe their recording sessions, that they would not be making any attempt at identifying who played what instrument. I remember seeing a post to that effect before, but it was a little disappointing to see it in print. They don't ignore the topic -- there is just no attempt to say, "It was John on his 325-12 rather than George on his 360-12 on the left channel of blah-blah-blah."
There are lots of new studio pics,almost all in b&w. At least they were new to me. It's not pictures-of-the-Beatles heavy; in this respect it's much like "Beatles Gear", so those expecting one long photo album may be disappointed.
But there are many fascinating details of how things were actually recorded. Mark Lewison's book is mentioned often, and there are liberal quotes from all the usual suspects -- Ken Townsend, Emerick, Norman Smith.
Whew. All that from just skimming through it in 2 hours. It's 530+ pages, and these guys definitely did their homework. I was struck by one passage while they talk about the recording of "A Day In The Life", how they (the authors) were allowed (while at Abbey Road) to recreate the crashing finale Emaj chords on the very same pianos used on the song, and they were awed at how much it sounded like the real thing! Well, I guess it WAS the real thing...
Anyway, that's my "Critic's Corner" 30-cent report. I ordered early, so mine was #172 (if only I'd been so quick with my 360/12C63 order, but I'll save that whine for another post). If you are interested in the details and techniques of Abbey Road, you should pull the trigger and grab one. (I don't know the authors, this is an unsolicited endorsement.)
If you order one of the 1000 deluxe editions, they're numbered and signed by the authors. So on the front page, along with the signatures, they write the number of that copy. I don't know if that corresponds to where I was in the order chain -- that's just the number of the particular book I got. I ordered mine back in April.
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shamustwin
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soundmasterg
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westtexasrickenbacker
- Member
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Does anyone here think that $ 100 is an unconscionable price to charge for a book, even a 500-page one like this one? After all, Mark Lewisohn's book only cost $ 25 when it first came out.
I brought this up in another, less civilized Beatles forum and had obscenities hurled my way for even expressing that opinion. You guys (and girls) seem like a much more reasonable group, so I'd honestly be interested to know what you think.
IMO, a hundred dollar price tag puts it out of reach of too many people, libraries included, and they're not selling it through book stores, so the only way to even skim through it is to send the authors the hundred bucks in full, which really seems like a lot to ask of us ordinary folk.
Plus they're charging $ 20 for shipping in the U.S. and considerably more for shipping overseas. If they sold it through Amazon, you'd at least get the shipping for free, but they're not doing that, either.
Don't get me wrong -- the book may be terrific, and I don't fault anyone for spending their hard-earned money on it (or anything else that brings you happiness); it just strikes me as unfair (dare I say greedy?) pricing, especially as the authors are now saying that they've abandoned plans to offer a lower-priced version in future (they originally said there would be a $ 60 edition next year, which still strikes me as high, but at least it isn't a hundred bucks).
I know this is a free country and that capitalism is what it is, but it just seems wrong to me somehow.
I brought this up in another, less civilized Beatles forum and had obscenities hurled my way for even expressing that opinion. You guys (and girls) seem like a much more reasonable group, so I'd honestly be interested to know what you think.
IMO, a hundred dollar price tag puts it out of reach of too many people, libraries included, and they're not selling it through book stores, so the only way to even skim through it is to send the authors the hundred bucks in full, which really seems like a lot to ask of us ordinary folk.
Plus they're charging $ 20 for shipping in the U.S. and considerably more for shipping overseas. If they sold it through Amazon, you'd at least get the shipping for free, but they're not doing that, either.
Don't get me wrong -- the book may be terrific, and I don't fault anyone for spending their hard-earned money on it (or anything else that brings you happiness); it just strikes me as unfair (dare I say greedy?) pricing, especially as the authors are now saying that they've abandoned plans to offer a lower-priced version in future (they originally said there would be a $ 60 edition next year, which still strikes me as high, but at least it isn't a hundred bucks).
I know this is a free country and that capitalism is what it is, but it just seems wrong to me somehow.
John, those are good questions, and one my wife brought up as well! But having really started to sit down and read it now -- instead of just skimming it -- I truly am amazed at the detail they have put into it. During the introduction, I believe they said something (and I'm paraphrasing from memory) along the line of the reader being able to drop in anywhere in the book and treat it like a "textbook". In that regard, the reader may find certain things explained in more than one place -- which means the reader doesn't have to necessarily start at the beginning of the book or hunt thru the index to find the meaning of something like "ADT" -- that term will be explained multiple times throughout the book.
I'm not going to argue the capitalism or "what the market will bear" theories. We seem to be a group of people who, generally, have the discretionary income to be able to afford more than ONE Rickenbacker priced at over $1000. Some among us gaze proudly at our collections and try to figure out just were we're going to hang our 4-new-one-of-each-model-75th-Anniversary-Ricks on the wall. Others among us wonder why anyone would need one more $1500 guitar (and I have 2 with 1 on the way). But it is what it is.
Is the book worth the money? Well, in my mind it is. As many Beatle books as I've read over the years, as much lore, rumor and fact that I've picked up from everything from a 1964 Tiger Beat with John on the cover to Geoff Emerick's book this year, it doesn't equal at all the scholarship and labor that had to go into "Recording The Beatles".
One can argue about Emerick's "what-a-load-of-rubbish-Emerick-is-a-Paul-loving-self-aggrandizing-creep-with-selective-memory" or Spitz' "Kitty Kelley" take on the Lads, but you can't argue with what Kevin and Brian have done. Just reading the first chapter on how Abbey Road came to be -- even a sidebar on the architecture firm that designed Abbey Road -- more than justifies the cost to me. This is not some slap dash memoir of John's counsin's best friend from middle school. It's also far more detailed than either of my two main bibles of All That Is Beatles, Babiuk's "Beatles Gear" and Lewison's book.
In short, I have the money to afford it, I have the desire to read about it, and I went ahead and bought it. I'm not an apologist for capitalism, I'm pretty agnostic about it -- I get a paycheck that allows me to buy an extra guitar or two and order out for pizza.
When you talk about capitalism and things that "feel wrong somehow", I am more inclined to think of oil companies than I am of guitar or book manufacturers. I NEED gasoline -- I don't NEED another Beatles book. If I spend $100 on a book, I must feel it's worth it -- otherwise I don't buy it.
But please, I don't want to go there. I am as apolotical as I can get. I don't do "Brammy vs. Dane Paul" at all well.
I'm not going to argue the capitalism or "what the market will bear" theories. We seem to be a group of people who, generally, have the discretionary income to be able to afford more than ONE Rickenbacker priced at over $1000. Some among us gaze proudly at our collections and try to figure out just were we're going to hang our 4-new-one-of-each-model-75th-Anniversary-Ricks on the wall. Others among us wonder why anyone would need one more $1500 guitar (and I have 2 with 1 on the way). But it is what it is.
Is the book worth the money? Well, in my mind it is. As many Beatle books as I've read over the years, as much lore, rumor and fact that I've picked up from everything from a 1964 Tiger Beat with John on the cover to Geoff Emerick's book this year, it doesn't equal at all the scholarship and labor that had to go into "Recording The Beatles".
One can argue about Emerick's "what-a-load-of-rubbish-Emerick-is-a-Paul-loving-self-aggrandizing-creep-with-selective-memory" or Spitz' "Kitty Kelley" take on the Lads, but you can't argue with what Kevin and Brian have done. Just reading the first chapter on how Abbey Road came to be -- even a sidebar on the architecture firm that designed Abbey Road -- more than justifies the cost to me. This is not some slap dash memoir of John's counsin's best friend from middle school. It's also far more detailed than either of my two main bibles of All That Is Beatles, Babiuk's "Beatles Gear" and Lewison's book.
In short, I have the money to afford it, I have the desire to read about it, and I went ahead and bought it. I'm not an apologist for capitalism, I'm pretty agnostic about it -- I get a paycheck that allows me to buy an extra guitar or two and order out for pizza.
When you talk about capitalism and things that "feel wrong somehow", I am more inclined to think of oil companies than I am of guitar or book manufacturers. I NEED gasoline -- I don't NEED another Beatles book. If I spend $100 on a book, I must feel it's worth it -- otherwise I don't buy it.
But please, I don't want to go there. I am as apolotical as I can get. I don't do "Brammy vs. Dane Paul" at all well.
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jingle_jangle
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I looked at the book--spent a good 2 minutes shuffling through random pages--at the MOMM event at RIC75.
It's worth $100.00. I've paid more for books that offered equal amounts of well-researched material (Peter Brock's history of the Cobra Daytona coupes, published about ten years ago at $150.00, was a goldmine of information and worth every penny.)
I used to buy a lot of coffee-table-type reference books. There are good--like this book and Peter's--and there are bad--like the hundreds of Feng Shui (rhymes with "pfooey") books that popped up five years back at Christmas...
It's worth $100.00. I've paid more for books that offered equal amounts of well-researched material (Peter Brock's history of the Cobra Daytona coupes, published about ten years ago at $150.00, was a goldmine of information and worth every penny.)
I used to buy a lot of coffee-table-type reference books. There are good--like this book and Peter's--and there are bad--like the hundreds of Feng Shui (rhymes with "pfooey") books that popped up five years back at Christmas...
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut